Sony TV launches joint venture

Victoria Ashbourne leads London shingle

Sony Pictures Television and U.K. production exec Victoria Ashbourne bowed joint venture production company Victory Television on Thursday.

Ashbourne, previously SPT’s senior VP of creative development, international production, will be managing director of the London-based shingle. Victory will focus on producing entertainment and factual entertainment programming for the U.K. and already has projects in development.

Victory’s first commission is a series of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” celebrity specials to air on commercial web ITV1 over the summer.

Kees Abrahams, SPT prexy of international production, said, “This is an important step as we continue to build our presence in the U.K. Victoria is a highly accomplished producer and has been a very talented, creative force during her time at SPT, helping drive international development through our production network.”

Ashbourne said, “SPT is a creative powerhouse in entertainment around the world, and I couldn’t wish for a better umbrella under which to launch this exciting new venture.”

Ashbourne has led high-profile productions in the U.K., exec producing “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” as well as relaunching “Mr and Mrs,” both for ITV.

Victory is the latest company in SPT’s global production network, which includes Gogglebox (U.K.), Embassy Row (U.S.), Floresta (Brazil), Teleset (Colombia), Huaso (China), Tuvalu (Netherlands), Starling (France), Lean-M (Russia) and Toro (Italy), as well as branded SPT production studios in the U.S., Germany, Russia, Latin America and France.